how many of this post is there??

Personally I prefer to use black plastic for warming the soil. I've found it heats somewhat slower than clear, but it also doesn't allow weed seeds to start growing either. I usually lay it down about 2-3 weeks earlier that I plan to plant and the soil is warmed sufficiently enough. Also I normally cut holes thru the plastic to plant so the soil continually warms for a few more weeks. I'll remove it when I start laying down organic material for mulching about the fist week of June. I only use plastic mulch to warm the soil for: Melon, Pumpkin, Eggplant, and Okra so I can plant out between May 11-15th vs waiting the extra 2 weeks after the last average frost date has passed. One year all I had available was clear trash bags to use. I laid it over the hills I created for the melon. Within about 1.5 weeks I had well over 1,000 Amaranthus 'Intense Purple' seedlings literally covering the hills LOL! I took this picture while I was in the process of laying down mulch; as you can see I ultimately decided to allow some Amaranthus to stay, but many of the smaller ones ended up in the compost pile. No more clear plastic after that fiasco :O PS. How soon you want to lay it out will depend on your soil type. Soils having a lot of clay will warm up much slower than a sandy loam soil :)

dancinglemons: Yes, thanks for the link. It is exactly that type of "roughneck" container which I plan on buying. They are significantly more rigid / thick than other storage containers and as the link says they block a lot of light but not all. It is however encouraging to see that if you get the "indigo blue" color it blocks algae growth, according to that website. It's encouraging to see a hydronic dealer selling them for this specific purpose :) Also I've seen these containers used even in the how-to hydroponics book written by Keith Roberto, and some of them are outdoor systems. My only major current concern is the temperature of the nut. soluction. I plan on getting some type of submersible thermometer to lay on the bottom of the reservoir so I can track how that's doing. It'll probably be ok now heading into winter but I may have to sink the container a foot or so into the ground come summertime - not sure yet.

I'm using the plastic containers, e.g. ice cream, margarine, etc. for storage in the fridge or freezer, as I'm not worried about potatoes or most vegetables, etc., though I have some concern re tomato, or possibly applesauce, due to a question as to whether the acid in them may leach out some not-too-pleasant components of the plastic. I try to avoid heating in the microwave, as I wonder whether the heat may tend to leach out some of the components of the plastic that may cause me some trouble, health-wise. I let 'em sit on the counter for a while, or let sit for a spell in either cold or hot water if I'm in a hurry, then empty the contents into a glazed earthenware, ceramic or glass bowl prior to going into the microwave, or a pot for on the stove. That said - after about half-cooking a bunch of tomatoes in a bowl in the microwave last fall, after they cooled I partly filled half a dozen yogurt tubs with them and stored them in the fridge as makings for soup, some for up to a couple of months. There was no residual stain, by the way. Who said that humans were supposed to be consistent! ole joyful